[Talk-GB] Blocked / overgrown / inaccessible footpaths and bridleways

[SK53]

A few from my own records:

   - Carmarthenshire near Carmarthen I documented
   <http://sk53-osm.blogspot.com/2011/07/footpaths-in-carmarthenshire-whats-point.html>
   a while back. Signage is often absent and far too many PRoWs were, for all
   intents & purposes blocked. Several went through front gardens (including
   that of my sister's neighbour, which was why I was coy about the actual
   locations). Even ones which were signed proved difficult to follow on the
   ground. In practice I only mapped ones which I had walked, not ones signed
   from the road as experience taught me to regard this as unreliable.
   - Somewhere in this area
   <https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/50.9770/-0.6492> alongside the
   Rother, I mapped a path which robbieonsea had found impassable in the
   previous summer, but was fine in early Spring. I can't remember the precise
   reason, but think it was because the path was overgrown. Tall herb
   (basically nettles I'd imagine) may only be a serious obstacle in summer).
   - In a couple of instances I've reported an overgrown path to the local
   authority and had word back that the footpaths officer had cleared the
   obstruction (near Swingate
   <https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/111626203#map=17/52.99293/-1.26652>,
   and near Osleston <https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/660697683>). The
   Osleston obstruction was a Blackthorn thicket which I mapped, but didn't
   have time to return when we were in the area at New Year. In the first case
   I got along the 'path', in the second I'd surveyed it from the other end,
   so the route was obvious.
   - Scalford (Leics) FP 23 <https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/465782029>
   is marked on current and old maps, but no sign of it at the NW end. However
   there is a stile about 3 foot into the hawthorn hedge at the Southern end,
   so the notional line is obvious. In this case I mapped the route because
   there was sufficient on the ground evidence. The path was obstructed by
   farm buildings long ago.
   - Hickling (Notts) FP2 <https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/367148913>
   goes from the Hickling-Long Clawson Road to the S bank of the Grantham
   Canal. It is not signed by the council, and the gate from the road is
   locked. Mapped because I know it exists and checked the gates in case I'd
   got the wrong one. I haven't walked it though, but being able to follow the
   line was one reason I put it on OSM. I was specifically interested in this
   because there is very little of Hectad SK72 in Nottinghamshire and this
   prow potentially provided access to different habitats.
   - The area S of Long Lane (Derbyshire) specialises in overgrown stiles.
   John, Tom & I managed to get through them, but having more than one person
   helped greatly. The previous year reporting issues was very successful, but
   I didn't do it this year.
   - Hothfield, Kent
   <https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/51.18570/0.81308>. I had a short,
   abortive, pre-breakfast attempt to map some footpaths. Some were
   obstructed, but others it was just hard to work out the route. I only
   mapped what I walked and a few things I saw. I never received any response
   to my reports to the highway authority, despite having taken the trouble of
   creating an account on their system to make the reports in the first case.

In general footpath officers for Notts, Derbys & Leics have been very
responsive to my reports and queries. They obviously have given up on some
more-or-less defunct PRoWs (Scalford FP23 & Hickling FP2) when alternatives
exist or when the path doesn't go anywhere. Elsewhere this is not true, and
in these places it's probably safe to assume obstructions are permanent. In
the latter case I have just not mapped the path, but other on-the-ground
evidence (e.g., the track which AW 127 presumably follows).

Jerry

On Tue, 29 Sep 2020 at 13:52, Andy Townsend <ajt1047 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> How do people normally map things like "I know there is a public
> footpath that goes through here but it is currently inaccessible"?
>
> A taginfo search finds a few candidates:
>
> https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org.uk/search?q=overgrown#values
>
> https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org.uk/search?q=inaccessible#values
>
> https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org.uk/search?q=blocked#values
>
> So far https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/overgrown seems the
> nearest (it's undocumented but mentioned on
> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Hiking ).  However, I'm sure that
> there are examples that I've missed.  Most seem to be used within note
> tags which can of course contain any old text - are there any actual
> non-note tags and values that are used for this that I'm missing?
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Andy
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Talk-GB at openstreetmap.org
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>
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